Arsenal prove their pedigree

By Gary Lineker

7:53PM BST 04 May 2002

FORTUNATELY for Arsenal, there was no Michael Owen around this time to steal their rightful glory at the death. With the departure of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink after 67 minutes, one sensed there was no one in the Chelsea team with the necessary firepower to get them back into this game once Ray Parlour had given the Gunners the lead with a strike of which the powerful Dutchman himself would have been proud.

Now it's on to the Double for Arsenal for a third time and how richly they deserve the honour. Once Chelsea came out of their defensive shell in the second half it was inevitable that Arsenal's fast-breaking players would come into their own. But Chelsea contributed fulsomely to what was ultimately an absorbing FA Cup final.

Whether or not the goal will be enough to clinch Parlour's place in Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad remains to be seen, but there will have been other thoughts occupying the mind of the England coach yesterday, mainly the goalscoring performance of Parlour's team-mate, Freddie Ljungberg.

There have been warnings aplenty from Sweden's goalscoring midfielder this season and here was another with his superbly executed second goal. With England's June 2 date against the Swedes in Saitama in mind, Eriksson knows he may have to come up with a special plan to deal with the threat of the Arsenal man.

It was a final which eventually lived up to its billing after a cagey first half and, paradoxically, only swung Arsenal's way after Chelsea's best period of the match. But you cannot take risks against a team with the pace of people like Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Ljungberg.

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Manchester United fans will argue that their team are still the best in the country and, while that may be true over an extended period, there can be no doubting that Arsenal have been the best team in England this season - whatever happens at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Yet for all Arsenal's attacking strengths, I feel the most striking difference between the two sides has been in defence.

It has been a transitional period in that department for both teams, but I feel Arsenal are a lot nearer knitting their back four together than United. With United, there is a suspicion they might just rip the whole thing up this summer and start again.

It has been the champions' Achilles heel this season, as we have seen on numerous occasions and even recently in the Champions League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen, when many of those glitches were supposed to have been eradicated. Even a great attacking sides like Real Madrid need a first-class, tight defence.

In that respect Arsenal are getting there. Their famous back four were always going to be a hard act to follow, but there has been improvement this season. Sol Campbell is finally settling in at centre-back and perhaps just needs to find a regular partner while the full-backs, Lauren and Ashley Cole, have obvious qualities. As for the goalkeeper, it should be remembered that, despite his age, David Seaman is still the best in England as well being Arsenal's No 1.

That said, it was in defence where they, too, were exposed in the Champions League, in those opening 45 minutes against Deportivo La Coruna, but with more experience and better understanding at the back that long-awaited impact on Europe will surely come.

One cannot help but feel a little sorry for Chelsea, who came into the game with too many injury doubts. Had Hasselbaink been fully fit things might have turned out differently. Frank Lampard had a fine game but I do wonder whether their midfield lacks a certain dynamism.

Claudio Ranieri will not need telling that he requires a player of Patrick Vieira's quality. Until they find such a player - and in Emmanuel Petit you would think they possess him - they will struggle to be a force in the Premiership. For how much longer can Chelsea look to the FA Cup for consolation?